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Earth Forge (Soul Reaver 2)
Cut content article Locations article |cutfrom= Soul Reaver 2 (2001)}} The Earth Forge, or Earth Shrine, was a Reaver Forge planned to appear in Soul Reaver 2. Within the Forge, Raziel was to obtain the Earth Reaver, an augmentation which later appeared in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. The Forge is a deleted level and is not present in the finished game. Development Discussing abilities planned for Raziel to earn in a May 2000 interview concerning Soul Reaver 2, Amy Hennig commented on the development of the Wraith Blade enhancements: As well as confirming the presence of "nine additional spell-type things", she caveated this information, saying it "could change", "based on our schedule and what we're going to have to adjust as we go". Soul Reaver 2: Director's Interview - PlayStation 2 Feature at IGN (by Douglass Perry), page 6 As with the other enhancements, Raziel was planned to have imbued the Wraith Blade with elemental Earth in the Earth Forge, creating the Earth Reaver. Ultimately both the forge and its associated Reaver enhancement were cut due to time constraints and the final version of Soul Reaver 2 featured only four of the seven planned Reaver enhancements and their associated forges. Despite the removal of the forge and its enhancement, the Earth symbol can still be observed in game on the dais of the Subterranean Pillars Chamber. Prerelease screenshots archived at The Lost Worlds depict Raziel wielding a bright-green incarnation of the Wraith Blade in an area which does not appear anywhere in the game. It is highly plausible that this fictile-toned locale is the Earth Forge and associated Earth Reaver enhancement. Addressing the deleted forges and their influences, Daniel Cabuco commented: Soul Reaver 2 questions at DCabDesign (by Raina Audron), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco)}} It is reasonable to assume that, like its counterparts, the Forge was constructed by the Ancient vampires, would have exhibited unique architectural influences from real-world ancient temples, and would have entailed solving a complex puzzle. Various art and plot questions at DCabDesign (by Dubiel), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco) The location of forge within Nosgoth and the game world of Soul Reaver 2 is unknown, though several locations including Uschtenheim and the Swamp contain playable areas that are usually inaccessible and may have been intended to lead to deleted forges. Soul Reaver 2 questions at DCabDesign (by Raina Audron), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco) The Roofs of Uschtenheim at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) Behind the Scenes - The Aerie at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) My Visit to Crystal Dynamics at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) The Ruins in the Swamp at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) Vampires (Soul Reaver 2) at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) An Earth Forge does exist in the Vampire Citadel (and is visited in Legacy of Kain: Defiance), but, like its equivalents, is distinct from the dedicated Earth Forge. Because of its disinclusion in the games, the Forge's canonical status is dubious. Notes *The Deleted Elemental Reavers can be enabled in-game through the use of the debug menu. When used, each of the deleted Reaver enhancements appear as an invisible 'placeholder' blades with no special abilities and with the blade itself doing no damage (though the Earth Reaver does appear to have a minor green usage effect and the 'sinking' ability remains). Deleted Elemental Reavers at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) The Debug Menu at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) A different placeholder, arguably based on the Amplified Reaver (removed from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver), was accessible through debug menus on the earlier 'Air Forge demo'. Soul Reaver 2 contains several locations where the supposed abilities of the Earth Reaver could be used (assuming they are the same as the ''Defiance'' Earth Reaver); most noticeably, the ruins of the Spirit Forge at the bottom of the Great Southern Lake are likely to have used the 'sinking' ability of the Earth Reaver to activate. Deleted Reaver Forges at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) *A second prerelease image archived at the The Lost Worlds presents another location with similarly 'earthy' tones that is labelled as "A possible image of the Earth Forge" from the cancelled Dreamcast build of Soul Reaver 2. Despite the similar color-scheme, the area shown greatly resembles areas of the Light forge, specifically the end of the corridor leading to the Light Forge key at the border between "Light14" and "Light6"', albeit with the lighting of the area drastically altered. Given Daniel Cabuco's statements regarding the development of the forges (and the Dreamcast version of Soul Reaver 2) it would seem probable that this in fact represents an early version of the Light forge and not the Earth forge. SR2 Dreamcast version at DCabDesign (by Raina Audron), post #2 (by Daniel Cabuco) Gallery MP-ActivityMap-Earth.png|The Earth symbol See also * Deleted Reaver Forges at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) *Earth Reaver (Soul Reaver 2) *Earth Forge (Defiance) References Browse Category:Browse Category:Cut content Category:Cut content/Locations Category:Cut content/Soul Reaver 2 Category:Locations Category:Locations/Soul Reaver 2 cut locations Category:Locations/Soul Reaver 2 Category:Soul Reaver 2